In a game where both sides of the ball got off to a rocky start, the Rebels fought exceptionally hard to win 23-20 over the University of Kansas Jayhawks.
Here is a closer look at how the most challenging matchup yet for the Rebels resulted in the team going 3-0 for the first time since 1984.
The Rushing Rebels
“We got it done, and we found a way. A win is a win,” said Rebels’ quarterback Matthew Sluka.
The offense stumbled in the first half of the game, as it took a few drives to get the Rebels going.
The connection between Sluka and Ricky White III, which was so potent in previous games, was effectively shut down by the Jayhawks secondary. White had been targeted nine times, only catching three of the passes for a total of four yards.
Sluka had to rely on other players in the first half, like Jaden Bradley, who caught a 31-yard pass, and Casey Cain, who caught a pass good for 18 yards. Right before the end of the first half, Sluka was able to find Jai’den Thomas, who scored for the Rebels on a 27-yard pass.
Sluka would be held to just 86 passing yards, with seven completions over 18 attempts.
With the Jayhawks’ secondary playing well, the Rebels had to attack on the ground. Several players, like Thomas, Devin Green, Kylin James, and Greg Burrell, attempted to get the run game going, but together, only amassed a total of 57 rushing yards.
“Our runners were running hard, and our quarterback made some big plays,” said head coach Barry Odom.
Sluka took the ball into his own hands and put his skills as a mobile quarterback to work. Sluka ended the game with 124 rushing yards coming from 19 attempts, where he averaged a total of 6.5 yards per carry. His longest run of the game came in the second quarter, where Sluka ran up the middle of the field for 46 yards.
The final drive for the Rebel offense took 11 minutes of game time. The 18-play drive saw two fourth-down conversions, a fumble recovered by the Rebels, and no passing attempts.
“There were some RPOs in there that the read wasn’t there for, and our quarterback did a great job buying some time,” Odom said. “He efficiently got the ball down the field and made some tough runs.”
The Defense Rocked
The Rebels’ defense started off rough, as several tackles were missed in the backfield, allowing the Jayhawks to score 17 points in the first half. However, as the game went on, the defense just kept getting better.
“I felt like we were a little jittery. We were doing a little bit too much. We just settled in and did our job,” said Jackson Woodard.
The defense was able to deliver some hard hits early in the game, including one that stopped Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels in his tracks.
In Kansas’ last drive of the first half, Jalen Catalon picked up right where he left off in Houston, intercepting Daniels at Kansas’ 33-yard line. Catalon avoided several Jayhawks and ran the ball deep into Kansas territory. Catalon’s interception would help the Rebels put six up on the board just as time expired in the half.
Coming out of halftime, the Rebel’s defense was ready for whatever Kansas threw at them. In the Jayhawks’ second drive of the second half, Woodard intercepted Daniels and ran it back for 27 yards to Kansas’ four-yard line.
“I’m a little too slow, I gotta get a little faster. My angles were off, and I had to keep going for the endzone. Get a little stiff-arm,” Woodard said. “I gotta get a little better with the ball in my hands. I gotta ask Ricky for some tips for sure.”
Confidence only grew in the Rebels’ defense from then on. The third quarter went down as a defensive showdown between both teams, with the only points coming from a UNLV field goal.
The Rebels defense held the Jayhawks to just a field goal in the final quarter. The defense stood firm against the Jayhawks’ last drive of the game, forcing them to lose 11 yards over the course of the four downs.
“Ultimately, we’re just out to win. The biggest game is the next game. Coach says that all the time. This was the next game, it was obviously a huge game, how close it was and everything. It was a really big win for us,” Woodard said.
When The Crowd Turns On You
While it was technically a home game for the Jayhawks, they played outside of the usual David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. For the 2024 season, the Jayhawks call Children’s Mercy Park their home. The venue holds only 18,500 people, but Rebels and Jayhawks fans filled the seats.
The amount of fans was disproportionate, as Jayhawks fans were visibly and audibly the majority. Early in the game, the crowd erupted after every single play by the Jayhawks.
“It was loud, and we had trouble hearing ourselves sometimes,” Sluka said.
In the third quarter, the crowd was louder, but for the wrong reasons. Penalties hurt the Jayhawks, and the crowd voiced their displeasure with both the referees and the team.
By the end of the game, the Jayhawks racked up 90 penalty yards from 9 called penalties. A stadium-wide chant of “Ref, you suck” broke out, and Jayhawks fans booed loudly at their team’s lack of progression deep in their own territory.
The crowd began to quiet down as the game went on, and the score became closer. The 11-minute long drive by the Rebels saw the crowd reach a different kind of loud. Jayhawk fans behind the end zone responded to the Rebel’s threat of scoring with all sorts of noise to try and throw the Rebels off.
“It was, you know, going back to that 19-play drive, a huge shift, as far as crowd noise. Crowd noise is something we have to deal with, especially in smaller environments. Taking the breath out of them was really nice towards the end,” said center Jack Hasz.
When UNLV made it into the endzone and took their first lead of the game, the crowd began to quiet with worry. The crowd was almost entirely silent after the Jayhawks failed to get a first down and subsequent turnover on downs.
“Anytime you come into an away stadium and you get to quiet down the fans, it is always something special,” said Sluka.
